Point the first: everything which deepens your understanding of Glorantha is of practical use in a campaign. There are certainly many postings which do not add anything to anyone's understanding of Gloranth, so don't read them.
Point the second: so send in something practical, already! I'd like to see some contributions from someone other than the usual suspects (in which I group I include myself).
And in keeping with the practicality trend:
A Fair Fight
Copyright 1992 Martin R. Crim
Permission Granted to Reproduce Electronically
With Proper Attribution
Just as in our world, there are different levels of conflict
in Glorantha. People reach for weapons more easily than anyone
in our world ever did, because of healing spells. However, only
a bad person reaches for a weapon every time he gets into a
conflict, or even every time he gets into a fight.
In Sartar and Heortland, Orlanthi humans and Ducks follow the first set of rules below about escalation of conflict. Ducks tend to escalate more quickly, which accounts for their reputation for pugnacity. Given Ducks' disadvantage in unarmed combat, this is quite sensible. Other non-humans do not use these guidelines when dealing with humans, and vice versa. Humans of other cultures, such as Praxians, have different rules.
Most Praxian nomads follow the second set of rules below. When they meet Orlanthi in conflict, there are frequent miscalculations. As a result, one side or the other will escalate the conflict, to both sides' harm. Sartarites of the Plains' edge complain that the Praxians are always invading. Praxians say that they raid the Sartarites. This is more than a semantic difference.
Sartar/Heortland
These customs are typical of the Barbarian Belt. With some variation, they apply to Sun Dome Temple residents, both in Dragon Pass and in the Zola Fel valley. Tarshites of the countryside have these customs, but urban Tarshites look down on brawling. They prefer assassination and thuggery, like their Lunar masters.
Fistfighting and Chest-pounding
The least dangerous and least serious level of fight is the fist fight. Two men or two boys fight this way when a verbal argument reaches a level of anger that someone throws the first blow or offers to have a chest-pounding duel. Men do not fight boys, and nobody fights elders. However, one can argue that someone is really a boy or a man, if that suits the occasion.
Women in Heortland and Sartar do not fight men, but sometimes fight each other. This is relatively common in Babeester Gor temples. Babeester Gor initiates often skip the fist-fighting level, however, and go straight to an axe duel. Women never have chest-pounding duels.
A chest-pounding duel is a contest of machismo in which men throw their best punches at each other's chests. The challenger must accept the first blow. Falling down means losing the fight. If neither falls down, the fighters could reconcile ("I'll buy you a beer"), have another round of chest-pounding, or escalate.
Depending on the level of anger, the fight may progress as a boxing match or rolling around in the dirt. If one fighter wants to escalate further, he can disengage and challenge the other to a weapon duel. If there are more than two men in the argument, two may fight while the others watch, or the fight can escalate to a stick-fighting melee.
[continued in part 2]
End of Glorantha Digest V1 #78
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